Mounting means for an electrical connector

ABSTRACT

AN ELECTRICAL CLIP FOR GROUNDING A POST SECTION OF AN ELECTRICAL TERMINAL TO A METALLIC MOUNTING PANEL HAS A BASE PROVIDED WITH U-SHAPED SPRING LEGS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM THE BASE IN THE SAME DIRECTION. THE SPRING LEGS HAVE SPRINGABLE POST-ENGAGING MEMBERS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE BASE. THE BASE AND THE ELECTRICAL CLIP IS ADAPTED TO BE DISPOSED IN AN OPENING OF THE MOUNTING PANEL WITH THE POST SECTION EXTENDING THROUGH THE OPENING AND THE POSTENGAGING MEMBERS RESILIENTLY ENGAGE THE POST SECTION TO EFFECT AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE METALLIC MOUNTING PANEL AND THE POST SECTION.

Feb.16, 1971 NTZ 3,564,479

MOUNTING MEANS F03 AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR riginal iled Aug. 21. 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 16, 1971 G.H.GLUNT Z MOUNTING MEANS FOR AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Aug. 21,

Feb. 16, 1971 G. H. GLUNTZ 3,564,

v MOUNTING MEANS FOR AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR I Original Filed Aug. 21, 1967 3 SheetseSheet S United States Patent "ice 3,564,479 MOUNTING MEANS FOR AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Glenn Harlan Gluntz, Harrisburg, Pa., assignor to AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa.

Original application Aug. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 661,898, now Patent No. 3,480,904, dated Nov. 25, 1969. Divided and this application Aug. 21, 1969, Ser. No. 852,007

Int. Cl. H01r 13/10, 13/42 US. Cl. 339-14 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of application Ser. No. 661,898, filed Aug. 21, 1967, now Patent No. 3,480,904, issued Nov. 25, 1969.

This invention relates to an electrical connector mounting arrangement for mounting an electrical connector onto a mounting panel and more particularly to a mounting arrangement for mounting a printed circuit connector in an opening of a panel without the use of mounting hardware.

It is known, as disclosed in US. Pats. 2,911,460; 2,919,300 and 2,995,617, to place a hollow dielectric insert into an opening of a mounting member and to introduce an electrical terminal having an enlarged area into the insert and force the enlarged area into the insert thereby expanding the insert into frictional engagement with the opening to form an interference-fit and securing the terminal in position.

This concept is satisfactory when placing and securing individual terminals in position in a mounting member, but it is not a desirable approach when electrical terminals secured in a dielectric housing are to be disposed in corresponding openings in a mounting panel and secured in at least some of them. Infinite problems would result among which are the following: individual inserts provided for the openings and special configurations provided on the terminals in the areas that are to form the interference-fit of the inserts in the openings.

Another approach to mounting electrical connectors on a mounting panel is that of providing openings to receive the electrical connectors and the electrical con nectors are secured to the mounting panel via bolts, rivets, screws and the like as disclosed by US. Pats. 2,994,056 and 3,084,302. Such an approach requires extra hardware and alignment is generally not proper if point-to-point wiring is to be automatically applied to the electrical terminals of the electrical connectors.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector mounting arrangement which obviates the drawbacks of existing mounting arrangements.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a mounting panel having openings therethrough in which sections of a connector housing are disposed and means being provided on the housings securing the connector 3,564,479 Patented Feb. 16, 1971 housings in position in the openings of the mounting panel.

A further object is to provide projections of a connector housing surrounding sections of electrical terminals extending outwardly from the connector housing, these projections mating with corresponding openings in a mounting panel with the projections being provided with securing means to secure the sections in the openings.

An additional object of the invention is the provision of means to take up any play between the housing and the mounting panel so that the housing is prevented from being loosely mounted in position for effective use in connection with automatic point-to-point wiring techniques.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide means to connect some of the electrical terminals to the mounting panel to effect a ground connection therebetween.

Other objects and attainments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that these embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of the invention but are given for purposes of illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principles thereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they may modify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditions of a particular use.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electrical connector carrying a printed circuit board exploded from a mounting panel;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of part of the electrical connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating the electrical connector in position in an opening of a mounting panel;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an exploded and cross-sectional view of the electrical connector prior to being mounted in an opening of a mounting panel;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along lines 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective exploded view of a detail of the electrical connector with the printed circuit board ex ploded therefrom;

FIG. 8 is a side view illustrating the electrical connectors in position in respective openings of mounting panel;

FIGS. 9 through 12 illustrate an aligning feature of the present invention and the connection of an electrical terminal to the mounting panel; and

FIGS. 1315 illustrate an alternative connection means for connecting an electrical terminal to the mounting panel.

Turning now to the drawings and especially FIGS. 1 through 8, there is illustrated a metallic mounting panel MP having rectangular openings ;1 located therein and round openings 2 at the ends of rectangular openings 1. Electrical connector EC comprises a body section 3- and printed circuit board or card guides 4. Body section 3 has protruding sections 5 that extend outwardly from the rear surface of body section 3. Protruding sections 5 are spaced from each other and are mateable with longitudinally aligned rectangular openings 1 in mounting panel MP.

Passageways 6 extend through body section 3 and protruding sections 5 and through body section 3 at the outer ends of sections 5 and therebetween. Passageways 6 are in communication with channel 7 which is located 3 in body section 3 for receiving a printed circuit board PCB therein.

Electrical terminals 8 are disposed in respective passageways 6 and include contact sections 9 which are disposed in channel 7 so as to be engageable with respective conductive paths CP of printed circuit board PCB when inserted in position within channel 7 of the electrical connector. Electrical terminals 8- also include posts 10 which extend outwardly from the rear surfaceof the electrical connector for engagement with electrical conductors applied by manual or automatic point-to-point wiring devices. Posts 10 that are to be disposed within round openings 2 do not extend through protruding sections 5 and these will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter.

Card guides 4 are provided with channels 11 in communication with channels 7 to guide printed circuit board PCB thereinto. One of card guides 4 is longer than the other so as to provide polarization and the outer ends of the card guides are provided with lugs 12 so that the lugs of the card guides of one of electrical connectors EC are engageable with the lugs of adjacent electrical connectors to provide stabilization therebetween and also to provide ventilation between the printed circuit boards as illustrated in FIG. 8 because the thickness of card guides 4 is less than that of body sections 3. Lugs 12 have an appropriate height in order to perform the intended operation. The entrances to channels 11 are beveled as illustrated in FIG. 7 to facilitate insertion of the printed circuit boards thereinto.

Electrical terminals 8 are preferably secured in passageways 6 by twisting posts 10 relative to contact sections 9 until post 10 engages stops 6' in accordance with the teaching set forth in US. patent application Ser. No. 613,966, filed Feb. 3, 1967, but, of course, the terminals can be secured in position'in the passageways in any desirable manner.

A channel 13 is disposed in body section 3 and protruding sections 5 which forms portions that separate the top row of terminals from the bottom row of terminals and provides ventilation therebetween. Locking projections 14 are disposed along the exterior surfaces of protruding sections 5 at the outer ends thereof and at staggered locations therealong. The upper surface of locking projections 14 is tapered so as to facilitate the insertion of protruding sections 5 within rectangular openings 1. Stepped surfaces 15 are located at the junction between body section 3 and protruding sections 5. Severable projections 16 extend outwardly from stepped surfaces 15 and protruding sections 5 opposite locking projections 14. Projections 16 are wedge-shaped and are disposed at an angle with respect to surfaces \15 and are severable from protruding sections 5 by the edges of openings 1 so as to take up any play between surfaces 15 and the mounting panel when protruding sections 5 are disposed within openings 1 and locking projections 14 engage the rear surface of the mounting panel as illustrated in FIG. 4.

An oblong opening 17 is located in each part of protruding section 5 beneath locking projections 14 so that a passageway 6 is in alignment with the locking projection 14 and this passageway and passageways on each side thereof are in communication with oblong openings 17. Stops 18 are provided in openings 17 in alignment with respective passageways 6 so that post 1 can be twisted into engagement therewith to limit the amount of twisting that post 10 will undergo.

In order to insert an electrical connector in openings 1 of mounting panel MP the following procedure is followed. Electrical terminals 8 are placed in respective passageways 6 and posts 10 except those in alignment with locking projections 14 are twisted against stops 6' to secure the electrical terminals in position in the passageways of the electrical connector. Leaving posts 10 of the electrical terminals in the passageways in alignment with locking projections 14 in an untwisted condition, permits the portion of protruding sections on which locking projections 14 are located to be flexible thereby permitting locking projections 14 to be flexed inwardly during insertion of protruding sections 5 within openings 1 of the mounting panel thereby facilitating insertion of the protruding sections within these openings. With protruding sections 5 in position within openings 1, locking projections 14 engage the rear surface of mounting panel MP and severable projections 16 are severable from protruding sections 5 if the thickness of mounting panel MP is such as to cause severing of projections 16 and projections 16 engage the front surface of mounting panel MP to take up any play thereby tightly securing the electrical connector in position on the mounting panel. After the protruding sections 5- have been positioned within openings 1, posts 10 in alignment with locking projections 14 are then twisted into engagement with stops 18 as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4-, and 6 thereby preventing the portions of protruding sections 5 carrying locking projections 14 from flexing very far inwardly which locks the protruding sections in position in opening 1 of the mounting panel.

Due to the fact that channel 13 is disposed in protruding sections 5, all of posts 10 of the electrical terminals are twisted into position against the stops in the passageways and the oblong openings and the protruding sections are forcefully pushed into respective openings 1 of the mounting panel. Channel 13 permits the portions of protruding sections 5 carrying the rows of terminal posts to move toward each other thereby permitting looking projections 14 to be inserted within openings 1 and then move outwardly toward their normal positions to perform their locking functions after they have cleared the openings.

FIGS. 9 through 12 illustrate a feature for aligning the electrical connector in the opening of the mounting member and an additional feature for grounding certain electrical terminals. A projection 18a is located at the end of one of protruding sections 5 and it includes a beveled surface at its outer end. A recess 19 is disposed in body section 3 in alignment with projection 18a. As protruding section 5 is driven into opening 1, the end edge of opening 1 engages projection 18a and shears it back and forces the electrical connector toward the other end of the opening and aligning it therewith. The excess of projection 18a that is sheared off is collected in recess 19 in order to prevent any part of the sheared off portion of projection 18a to be disposed between the mounting panel and the electrical connector thereby precluding any obstruction therebetween. The rest of the electrical connectors are mounted in a similar manner and all are therefore aligned along the same end of the openings thereby rendering posts 10 more susceptible to automatic pointto-point wiring devices.

As was mentioned hereinbefore, posts 10 that extend through round openings 2 are to be connected to the mounting panel and they are engaged by a grounding plug 20 thereby effecting a ground connection. Openings 2 are tapered, as illustrated in FIGS. 9 through 11, and the exterior surface of grounding plug 20 is also tapered so as to be mateable therewith. Grounding plug 20 is provided with a slot 21, as illustrated in FIG. 12, in which post 10* is disposed. After the electrical connector has been secured in openings 1, grounding plugs 20 are inserted from the rear surface of the mounting panel so that posts 10 are disposed in slots 21 and an impact tool (not shown) is used to drive grounding plugs 20 within the tapered openings 2 causing slot 21 to be decreased thereby snugly and tightly engaging posts 10 to effect an electrical connection therebetween and to stabilize the post in position therein. The sharp edges of slots 21 of the grounding plugs bite into the tapered openings and breaks down any oxide coating therebetween to effect an excellent electrical connection. Plugs 20 are of proper length so as not to extend clear through the mounting panel.

FIGS. 13 through 15 illustrate an alternative connection means for connecting posts of the electrical terminals to the mounting panel. The connection means includes a grounding clip 22 which is stamped and formed and comprises a base 23 having sidewalls 24 extending outwardly from opposing sides thereof. Each sidewall has a bend as indicated and extends inwardly towards the other sidewall and towards the base to define inner and outer sidewall portions. The inner sidewall portions 24 define springable post-engaging members and free ends 25 thereof curve toward the outer members of legs proximate base 23. The leading end of base 23 is provided with an inwardlydirected detent 26 and the trailing end of base 23 is provided with an inwardly-directed tab 27 in alignment with detent 26. Arcuate lances or lugs 28 extend outwardly from base 28 as well as arcuate projection 29 which is disposed forwardly of lugs 28. As can be discerned from FIG. 15, grounding clip 22 is tapered from projection 29 to the leading end thereof.

In assembly, grounding clips 22 are mounted on posts 10 that are to be disposed in round openings 2 of mounting panel MP, whereby the springable post-engaging inner sidewall portions 24 engage posts 10 and detents 26 and tabs 27 define locating means to properly locate the grounding clips thereon as illustrated in FIG. 14. Grounding clips 22 are therefore driven into position within respective openings 2 as sections 5 of the electrical connector are secured in openings 1 of the mounting panel. The tapered leading ends of the grounding clips facilitate the insertion of the grounding clips in openings 2 and arcuate projections 29 facilitate entry of lugs 28 within the openings. As the sections of clips 22 carrying arcuate lugs 28 and arcuate projections 29 are being driven into openings 2, legs 24 are forced inwardly so that post-engaging members thereof wipingly engage posts 10 and arcuate lugs 28 and arcuate projections 29 provide compensating means to compensate for any tolerance variation of openings 2. The sharp edges of arcuate lugs 28 and arcuate projections 29 also scrape the surfaces of openings 2 to break down any oxide coating that may be present therein to effect an excellent electrical connection. The forces applied onto posts 10 by the post-engaging members of legs 24 and arcuate lugs 28 and arcuate projections 29 are equally distributed at points disposed at equal angular locations passing through the axis of openings 2. As can be discerned from FIG. 14, grounding clip 22 centrally locates posts 10 in openings 2 as well as forming an electrical connection between mounting panel MP and posts 10 in addition to stabilizing posts 10 within openings 2.

It will, therefore, be appreciated that the aforementioned and other desirable objects have been achieved; however, it should be emphasized that the particular embodiments of the invention, which are shown and described herein, are intended as merely illustrative and not as restrictive of the invention.

The invention is claimed in accordance with the following:

1. In combination with a metallic panel, a multi-contact electrical connector mounted on one side of said panel, said connector having a plurality of electrical terminals therein, said terminals including post portions extending through holes in said panel and projecting beyond the other side of said panel, at least one of said posts being electrically connected to said panel for grounding purposes by means of a grounding clip comprising a base and sidewalls extending in the same direction from the sides of said base, said sidewalls having reverse bends and extending inwardly towards each other from said bends and towards said base thereby to define inner and outer portions of each of said sidewalls, said inner portions extending for a substantial distance towards said base and having outwardly directed marginal edges,

said clip being in one of said holes in said panel with portions of each of said sidewalls adjacent to said base and said bends, bearing against the side of said one hole,

said one post being between the opposed surfaces of said inner portions of said sidewalls with said opposed surfaces bearing resiliently against said one post, and

arcuate lances struck outwardly from said base intermediate the sides thereof, said lances resiliently hearing against said wall of said hole to maintain said clip in said hole.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said base has inwardly directed portions at each end thereof and between said sides thereof, said inwardly directed portions bearing against said post and maintaining said post centrally in said hole.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,701,877 2/1929 Foster 3392S8(F)X 2,431,583 11/1947 Penfold 339205 2,924,801 2/1960 Lee et al. 33914(L) 3,156,841 11/1964 Ayres 339258(F)X 3,231,843 1/1966 Antes et al. 339-14 3,251,022 5/1966 Hammell 339256(SP)X MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner P. A. CLIFFORD, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 339-18, 221, 258 

